Midnight Cowboy author James Leo Herlihy bought this Baker Lane house in 1969 for $6,000. "The town excited me too much," he said of Key West. "I spent all my time walking the streets. The place was mysterious, funky, indescribably exotic. The town had the kind of beauty that did not know about itself: it just was."

AUDIO ARCHIVES

Rita Dove | How Does a Shadow Shine?

As a Pulitzer Prize winner and former Poet Laureate of the United States, Rita Dove is among the most accomplished and recognizable poets of our time. Her collections of poetry include Thomas and Beulah, American Smooth, and, most recently, Sonata Mulattica, an ambitious and fascinating poetic recreation of the life of George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower, a mixed-race violinist born in 1780 in Vienna.

In this recording from the 2010 Key West Literary Seminar, Dove delivers a reading and talk entitled “How Does a Shadow Shine?” In it, she reads excerpts from Sonata Mulattica and discusses her motivation in applying poetic language and intensity to the strange life and times of the violinist Bridgetower, whose prodigious talents and exotic ethnicity were exploited by his showman father to considerable commercial and creative success. We learn of Bridgetower’s relationship with the great composer Ludwig van Beethoven, whose Violin Sonata No. 9 was originally written for Bridgetower, and we hear poems including “Prologue of the Rambling Sort,” “Disappearance,” “The Wardrobe Lesson,” “Black Billy Waters at his Pitch,” “Ludwig van Beethoven’s Return to Vienna,” “Cambridge, Great Saint Mary’s Church,” and “The End, with MapQuest”

Leave a Reply

About Audio Archive

Our archives contain more than 20 years of unique presentations by some of the world's most influential writers. The best of these recordings are now being digitized and released online in .mp3 format for use by educators, students, and readers worldwide.

Each January, the Seminar explores a different literary theme through lectures, panel presentations, readings, informal gatherings, and discussions. In January 2017 we celebrate our 35th anniversary with Revealing Power: The Literature of Politics.

Recordings are produced for the web by Arlo Haskell, with recording and engineering services provided by Private Ear. Contact arlo[at]kwls[dot]org with any questions, concerns, or special requests.

Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.

All recordings are for educational and non-commmercial use only. All rights belong to the author or authors speaking, or to their designated agent. Retransmissions must include the preceding statement and a link to the original source on kwls.org.